Despite knowing of his strong distaste for the prior adaptation, Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan pitched ties to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining to Stephen King, and it nearly didn't work. The 2019 horror drama acted as an adaptation of King's novel of the same name, itself a sequel to his Shining novel, and centered on an adult Danny Torrance struggling with his sobriety and having to tap back into his abilities to help fellow shiner Abra as a cult of vampiric shiners known as the True Knot hunt her down. With Ewan McGregor leading the cast of Doctor Sleep as Danny, the film hit theaters in late 2019 to largely favorable reviews from critics and audiences alike, though was considered to be an under performer at the box office, bringing in over $72 million against its reported $55 million production budget.
In a recent post on his Tumblr, Mike Flanagan reflected on his experience making Doctor Sleep. While discussing the creative process, the writer/director recalled Stephen King's initial response to his pitch about including ties to Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, with the filmmaker having to craft a clear proposal in order to convince the prolific horror author. See Flanagan's explanation below:
I put together a proposal that outlined what I wanted to do - use Kubrick's visual language, and keep the Overlook standing as a setting for the final battle. The initial feedback we got was "no." King really, really didn't like Kubrick's film, and his priority was to adapt DOCTOR SLEEP - not to revisit THE SHINING.I told him that if he didn't want me to do it, I wouldn't - I'd walk away from the movie before I made something he hated. But as a last ditch effort, I said "imagine the Overlook, decrepit and rotten. And imagine Dan Torrance having walk in to 'wake it up,' the lights coming on above his head as he walks the halls. He finds his way to the Gold Room. To the familiar bar, where an empty glass is waiting for him. And we see a familiar bartender ready to pour for him, saying 'good evening Mister Torrance.' What if that bartender is his father?" After a bit of a delay, King got back to us. "Do it," he said.
How Flanagan Merged King & Kubrick's Shining Universes
King has notoriously shared his frustrations with Kubrick's The Shining movie in the 40-plus years since it came out, primarily criticizing its deviations from his source novel and the shift from supernatural threats to a human one. Considering Warner Bros. were behind both the Jack Nicholson and Shelly Duvall-led film and Doctor Sleep, it's understandable why the studio would be keen to tap into Kubrick's adaptation to draw audiences back in, even if it went against King's vision. However, many are sure to find it both unenviable and commendable that Flanagan took it upon himself to merge the disparate storylines into one connective thread.
The biggest connection shared between Kubrick's The Shining, both of King's novels and Flanagan's Doctor Sleep was the Overlook Hotel, the terrifying location the first story was set in, which was burned to the ground in the original King novel by Jack in an effort to sacrifice himself to save his family. With Kubrick's film seeing Danny and Wendy escape Jack and the hotel, itself left standing, it could've been difficult for some audiences to grapple with the Overlook suddenly being an open field for the climactic final showdown between Danny and Rose. However, not only did Flanagan bring the Overlook back for his Doctor Sleep finale, he also gave Danny his father's ending, burning down the hotel to save Abra and attempt to put an end to its terror.
It's a decision that was not only largely welcomed by audiences, but received praise from King himself, who found that Flanagan's Doctor Sleep "redeemed" everything he disliked about Kubrick's The Shining. Though it's sure to be understandable for King fans that the author would initially turn down the idea to include ties to Kubrick's adaptation, Flanagan's dedication to his vision aligning with King's clearly paid out in his favor. Audiences can revisit the merging of both world with Doctor Sleep available to stream on HBO Max now.
Source: Mike Flanagan/Tumblr